Obedience & Milgram

What is the definition of Obedience?

= Obedience is a type of social influence which causes a person to act in response to an order given by another person. The person who gives the order usually has power or authority (or seems to).

Give a modern day example of Obedience.

The Holocaust -

• Mass killings of millions of Jews.

• Following orders.

• Murder of innocents.

• Gas chambers.

Stanley Milgram facts

• Influenced by the Nazi Holocaust.

• He was an American Social Psychologist.

• Carried out an experiment to demonstrate the relationship between obedience and authority.

Explain Milgram’s Obedience study.

• 40 Male participants.

• 2 experimental confederates : the experimenter and an old man (who was introduced as another volunteer).

• Participants drew ballots to see who would act as ‘teacher’ and who ‘learner’, however this was RIGGED - real participant was always teacher.

Outline the procedure of Milgram’s Obedience study.

• The teacher tested the learner on his ability to remember word pairs.

• Teacher was instructed to administer an increasing electrical shock on a wrong answer.

• Electrical board consisted of shocks from 15 Volts to 450 Volts.

• At 300 volts, the learner would thud against the wall and then no longer provide any answers and noises.

• The experimenter gave verbal prompts in standard responses, to continue if and when they raised concerns. Eg. Standard response : ‘An absence of response should be treated as a wrong answer.’ = STANDARDISED experiment.

What were the predictions of Milgram’s Obedience study?

• Very few participants would go beyond 150 Volts.

• Only 1 in 1000 would administer the full 450 Volts.

What were the findings of Milgram’s Obedience study?

• All participants gave a minimum of 300 volts to the learner (up until the thud noise).

• 65% of the participants continued to the highest level of 450 Volts.

• Participants showed signs of extreme distress, sweating, trembling, stuttering etc.

• 3 participants had full-blown uncontrollable seizures.

What happened after Milgram’s Obedience study?

• All participants were debriefed after the study and were told that their behaviour was entirely normal.

• Participants were sent a follow-up questionnaire, and 84% reported that they were glad to have participated.